Bump in the road for Ducks

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ANAHEIM The Anaheim Electric Light and Magic Company is flickering a bit.

The Ducks' first three-game losing streak of the season arrived Monday night, with San Jose finding little resistance in grabbing a 3-0 lead. The Ducks, as they have all year, narrowed their eyes and came back to within 4-3, but an empty-netter sealed the loss.

“They beat us at our own game,” defenseman Sheldon Souray said, having seen such oscillations before. “They outworked us, won some battles. We have to get a little sense of urgency back on our game. We've started some of these games possibly thinking that it's going to be an easy night.

“We should have a little swagger for sure. We've earned that. We've played well. But we've gotta understand that we have to start better. We've been down in every game. We have to realize that other teams aren't saying, just go ahead and take the two points. We're not going to panic, but we have to have some urgency, if that makes any sense.”

The brevity of the schedule is a little shocking – there are only 16 games left for the Ducks. But it's still long enough for reality to catch up, to impose punishment on the season-long habit of giving up early goals.

The Ducks picked up veteran winger Radek Dvorak on Monday, and Coach Bruce Boudreau was asked if this signified a Stanley Cup push.

“I try not to get ahead of ourselves,” he said. “I still want to make the playoffs, get first place in the division. You can't think about far down the road you're going to get. We'll see how it goes.”

It isn't going well on the Ducks power play, either by volume or performance, and when the Sharks' Joe Pavelski simply out-battled several Ducks to maintain shorthanded possession, many of the 16,083 in attendance began booing this 22-6-4 team.

The echoes from last Wednesday's euphoric comeback victory over Chicago are gone now. That was also the night the Ducks signed Corey Perry, after they had signed Ryan Getzlaf. This is professional sports. There's only one Miami Heat. Glee is not an uninterrupted commodity. The Ducks were going to fall out of their tree at some point.

Some have landed on their feet. One is Cam Fowler, who has been a qualitative success even though the numbers haven't appeared – no goals, four assists, a minus-1.

Fowler has upped his play dramatically over the past two weeks. It would be recognized if his final-second shot had gotten past Detroit's Jimmy Howard on Sunday, instead of glancing off his shoulder. But the scouts know that Fowler is getting it.

“You keep shooting the puck, going to the net, not changing anything,” Fowler said Monday morning. “Eventually something good has to happen. Maybe it's a snowball effect. I'm sticking with it. I'm confident I can contribute offensively.”

Boudreau said Fowler's revival is almost as simple as this: Fowler is playing left defense again, as he had almost his whole career until the second half of his rookie season. In 2011-12 he was on the right side almost exclusively and wound up minus-28, his confidence puddling.

“If he's on the right side he's coming to his left, and you're always in your partner's area,” said Boudreau, noting that Fowler is left-handed, like a majority of defensemen. “but when he's on the left side, he only moves to the middle.

“Like most of us he doesn't want to use his backhand. He's got great visions on the left side and he can use his forehand. He doesn't have to use a backhand pass, or a hinge … it's tough to play on the off-wing when you're getting pressured. You can't snap the puck and just flip it into the area.”

“I'm just used to it,” Fowler said. “All my reads happen more naturally. I feel a little more comfortable. On the right side maybe I was putting myself in situations I shouldn't have. Maybe it's more of a trial-and-error situation.”

Fowler was minus-7 in the final 13 so-what games last season. “It didn't look good when you saw it on paper,” Boudreau said, “but he ballooned up to a number he was better than. Recently he's played tremendous.”

Another gem that continues to shine is Emerson Etem. “The league hasn't figured out how fast he is yet,” Boudreau said. The rookie from Long Beach got the first goal, nearly had a couple of others on the type of rushes that are becoming a trademark, and doesn't seem worn down by the parade of games.

The Ducks now hit the road, but not to recapture any magic. “Any questions about adversity will be answered in the next two weeks, I guess,” Boudreau said. He's under no illusions.

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